Joint Contract-holders and Succession
Joint contract-holder
Parties can be added to the contract as joint contract-holders with the consent of the landlord. The new contract-holder will be liable under the contract from the day on which they become a joint contract-holder. If a contract-holder is no longer a party to the occupation contract, they will not be liable under the contract for any period after they cease to be a party to the contract.
Succession
On the death of a sole contract-holder, the occupation contract will terminate unless there is someone who qualifies to succeed the contract-holder. There are two categories of successor: 1) priority successor; and 2) reserve successor. A priority successor is the spouse/civil partner of the deceased or a partner who lived with them in the dwelling as their principal home. There are two types of reserve successors. The first is a family member (not a priority successor) who lived with the contract-holder in the dwelling as their principal home in the last 12 months preceding the death of the contract-holder. The second type of reserve successor is a carer who, in the last 12 months preceding the death of the contract-holder, cared for the contract-holder, and lived with them in the dwelling as their principal home (and has no other property to occupy at the time of the contract-holder’s death).